...for Pop Culture and Other Stuff - I'll spare you the politics for later - no, really.

Monday, January 15, 2007

Golden Globes

As has been posted here before I am sort of a sucker for awards season. It helps if I am in to the movies and stuff like I was a few years ago - but being in LA you sort of get sucked into it anyway. Many times I have passed by the Shrine Auditorium during Oscar afternoon and have seen the throngs around the USC adjacent site - but not once have we gone or acted like total groupies.

When I lived in West LA near Century City however you could almost participate in these awards withour going anywhere. In Beverlywood, many of the neighbors held some type of position with many of the studios whether it was music exec or key grip. One of our neighbors had a sort of noisy family style Oscar viewing party one afternoon and when Marcia Gay Harden got announced as a winner the house basically erupted. That nice older couple must have known her somehow.

There's many stories like that one - but the biggest connection to award season is that we lived rather close by to the Beverly Hilton on Santa Monica Boulevard -where most people would expect "Hollywood" to be. And of course this is where the Golden Globes is held every year. Probably a realy swanky hotel in the fifties it still holds its "retro but not over the top" charm with a famous poolside with striped canopies and a smoking porch where celebs can go to. The rooms are rather non-descript but they are convenient to anyone who wants to crash there.

And of course the famous Trader Vic's is there as well. And as famous as it is - you know " I saw Lon Cheney drinking a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's - and his hair was perfect" (well it was famous before that) it really just comes off as a pretty nromal tiki lounge - but hey doesn't eveything?

The first connection with the Beverly Hilton was that Deborah worked there in the Continental Airlines ticket office (they have five airline offices there - a sign of the old times). so I used to drive that entrance and drop her off and pick her up all the time - and witness all sorts of posh lunches and events et al.

More importantly the hotel was the sight for many business meetings that I attended from my nearby office in Century City. Drinks, lunch, coinventions - you name it. It is known for its mid-size meeting rooms in center of West LA - so it has become a popular place for many events.

In fact, I have sat three times in the "ball room" they have the Golden Globes event having rubber chicken lunches. One time we were there to receive local business awards and I actually represented my company at the time. I had to think there for one second that year that I could have been sitting where Meryll Streep was hanging out that time she won right off the bat at the start of the show and she got up at the mike and said "I was just settling in for a night of good drinks and here you go and call my name!" Or something like that.

You see - one of the great things about the Globes is that it is pretty loose - I mean only 75 foreign correspondants vote for this stuff so its not like do or die - but then also they serve food and drink - an that can make for fun.

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ABOUT ME

Transplanted Texan living in la-la land. Rock n' Roll Republican disappointed with a mindless and shiftless media. Also believe a free market economy might be a good idea.
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